Child sex case a shocking story to cover

OUR SAY: FOR 20 years, The Chronicle's Peter Hardwick has been reporting on the comings and goings in Toowoomba's courts.

He's a seasoned journalist who's seen and heard it all.

This week, he learned of a man who is facing 77 child sex and assault charges.

In his two decades of court reporting, he'd not encountered a similar list of serious charges.

(It needs to be stated that these 77 charges are not proven. They are allegations.)

Our justice system is staffed by people who, on a daily basis, do difficult jobs - from the security guards at the court house, to the police, to the lawyers, to the magistrates, to the reporters such as Mr Hardwick.

As this case makes its way through the justice system, I think today of the weighty but important work these people do.

And also of the human spirit that is still capable of shock, despite being exposed to decades of dispiriting cases of human behaviour.